Hamas Leader Mohammed Deif Hit in Israeli Bombing

An Israeli air strike in Gaza seriously wounded Hamas leader Mohammed Deif.

A Hamas militant leader who has topped Israel’s most-wanted list for a decade was badly wounded and underwent four hours of spinal surgery Wednesday after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike, security officials said. The top fugitive, Mohammed Deif, could end up paralyzed, Palestinian security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his condition. Wednesday’s blast marked the army’s fourth attempt to kill Deif, held responsible for suicide bombings in Israel. In a 2002 missile strike, he lost an eye.

At least 23 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Wednesday. And an Israeli airstrike early Thursday destroyed the building housing the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Foreign Ministry. Nine members of one family were killed in Wednesday’s airstrike, with an Israeli F-16 warplane dropping a quarter-ton bomb on a home in a crowded Gaza City neighborhood. The strike was by far the deadliest in Israel’s 15-day military campaign in Gaza, launched after Hamas-allied militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier.

While I think these tactics are likely to backfire if Israel’s goal is to eliminate Palestinian terrorism (the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are already using it as an excuse for stepped up rocket attacks), it’s always good news when a Hamas leader is hit.

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